Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR) is a think tank dedicated to intensive research on economic, social, and political issues.

Friday, March 09, 2012

Street Food Vending Policy- A case study of Kochi

Prepared by Sidharth. S. Kumar, intern at Centre for Public Policy Research

Street food
vendors have been a part of Kochi’s food culture since time immemorial. These
vendors run street eateries which are popularly known among the inhabitants as
‘thattukada’. Thattukadas serve palatable indigenous flavours. They daily feed
several thousands of customers belonging to various segments of the society and
age groups. Street food is a treasure house of local culinary traditions and is
increasingly playing an important role as an enhancer and force multiplier of
tourism sector. [1]
These vendors operate, mostly, at evenings or nights. They cater to the needs
of night travellers, labourers and immigrant bachelors and were even successful
in promoting the fast food culture in the city. The youth of the city also
choose to eat out at a street eatery due to the night ambience available there.
They provide easy access to food for the inhabitants at reasonable prices.

Apart from
serving delicious delicacies at affordable prices to the customers, these
eateries also provide livelihood to many. According to Mr. Abdullah, secretary
of Ernakulam Street Food Vendors Association, there are around 300 vendors in
Kochi[2]. Most of these vendors
have been serving hot and fresh food for the night lovers of the city for more
than a couple of decades. It thus performs an economic function of sustaining
livelihood of many families and plays a major role in urban poverty
alleviation.

Despite all these utilities and
service rendered by the street food vendors for the society, they are
considered as an excluded class of entrepreneurs. They do not get due
recognition for the economic and social functions they perform. Due to poverty,
unemployment and forced migration and immigration, despite the useful service
they render to society, they are looked upon as a hindrance to the planned
development of cities both by the elite urbanities and the town planners alike.[3]

In Kochi, the Cochin Municipal Corporation (CMC)
is reluctant to grant licences for street food vending within its jurisdiction.
Traffic congestion and health concerns are two major claims raised in support
of this policy of non-recognition of street vendors. Hence, street food vendors
in Kochi, do not have a legal recognition. The vendors are tormented mentally
by the civic officials with threats of eviction. They are treated as illegal
entities and miscreants. Officials and citizens often tend to degrade the
hygiene of, the food served in such eateries and the environment surrounding
those. Other major causes of caution are, the quality of water provided for
drinking in these eateries and the methods of solid waste disposal adopted by
them.

The plight of street food vendors in
Kochi is set to improve with government intervention. The Government of Kerala
introduced Kerala State Policy for Street vendors following the guidelines laid
out in the National Policy for Urban Street Vendors (2009), in June 2011. The CMC
had launched a scheme known as Safe Food City-Cochin in 2008, for
rehabilitating street food vendors in the city.

This report will explain, how legal
recognition can be accorded to the street food vendors of Kochi, by expanding
the Safe Food City project. Street vendors are one such faction of the society
who has not received the trickling benefits of the liberalisation regime
unveiled in the early 90s. Their plight can be improved by registering them
under the CMC through a Town Vending Committee (TVC). The concept of TVC was a
success in Bhubaneswar, Orissa. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC)
successfully organized a TVC to support street entrepreneurs. Following this
precedence, the CMC can also ensure the success of the project by establishing
a strong TVC. All through the course of this project, executors must bear in
mind that TVC is not another agency to bang the street vendors with heavy
regulations and procedures. It should finally take the shape of a facilitating
agency and should act like one.

DRAWBACKS OF THE SCHEME

The scheme is in the most elementary stage and do
not have a detailed plan for sustaining the results of the project nor
encouraging the entrepreneurial skills of the street food vendors.

The role of the TVC has not been properly
identified and it has not been put to complete operation. Till date, the
current TVC has met only two times for discussing about the topic. The National
Policy of Urban Street Vendors (hereafter, the Policy) envisages TVC as an
active mechanism to monitor and facilitate the activities of the street
vendors. Going according to the Policy, the right mode of operation should have
been the organisation of an active and representative TVC and entrusting it
with the task of implementing the scheme.

Hawking zones, which are crucial for accommodating
all the street food vendors, have not been identified and demarcated. The
officials feel that vending zones can be demarcated after at the end of the
process. This process is important as it calls for optimum utilisation of
limited sidelines beside the congested roads of the city. The vendors can be
accommodated, without causing hindrance to pedestrians, only once hawking zones
are scientifically designed.

The Government of Kerala (GoK) is lethargic about
introduction of a legislation to aid the street vendors. Even though GoK
unveiled the state’s street vendor policy in July, it did not taken the
initiative in introducing the bill in the subsequent session of the legislative
assembly. Such a legislative measure
would have given a statutory backing to the scheme.

The scheme does not require a complete overhaul
but initiating certain measures would ensure continuity and, eventually,
success of the scheme.

IMPROVING
THE SCHEME

The scheme can be improved through actions at both
state government and corporation levels. Though the major chunk of activity
should be carried out by the CMC, state government can support it through
various means.

First of all, the objective of the scheme should
be restated. Instead of considering it as a rehabilitation scheme for street
food vendors, shape it as a scheme for realizing the economic potential of
street food vendors. Street vendors should not be considered as illegitimate
and impoverished faction of society who can be brought to the mainstream by
providing mere financial assistance and technical aid. They should be
considered as entrepreneurs who lack the resources to begin or expand their
ventures. They need to be given every possible soft skill and technical support
along with sufficient financial assistance. Also, instead of regulating the
business of street food vendors, they should be allowed to work on the basis of
natural principles of market. The government must act as a guide to develop the
entrepreneurs.

Keeping this objective in mind,
the Government of Kerala should enact the URBAN STREET VENDORS (PROTECTION OF
LIVELIHOOD AND REGULATION OF STREET VENDING) BILL, 2011 (hereafter the Bill). The
bill would provide a statutory backing for the scheme and in fact, to any
similar scheme for street vendors across the state. The bill mandates the state
government to formulate appropriate schemes for the benefit of the street
vendors. The next important feature is the statutory support provided by the
bill for the Town Vending Committee. It stipulates several guidelines for the
formation and organisation of the TVC. The bill empowers the state government
to constitute Town Vending
Dispute Redressal Forum for each TVC. Further, the bill has provisions to
constitute a State Appellate Authority for accepting appeals from the District
Forums. The bill also lays down the regulations for identifying Vending Zones
and for registering and issuing licences for the vendors. Thus, the bill
constitutes a long term solution for the whole set of problems faced by the
street vendor fraternity of the state.

The most crucial step to be adopted by the CMC
is that of constituting a Town Vending Committee (TVC) as an autonomous body.
The prevailing TVC is deemed to be an integral part of the project. It is not
considered as a pivotal point around which the whole project should be set up.
Since, the Bill is still not enacted the TVC should be constituted through a
council resolution in order to give it a statutory position. Then, the project
should be transferred to the TVC. The TVC should implement the project with the
aid and guidance of KSUDP and allied agencies.

VENDING ZONES:

Vending zones can be termed as the lifeline of the
project. The place of business determines the volume and profit to a large
extend. The vendors accumulate at a place which gives them maximum number of
customers. They may not be able to function properly once they are displaced
from their present vending areas. Hence, there should be complete consensus
between the vendors and the TVC in the matter of demarcating vending zones.
While identifying vending zones the TVC should declare present vending
locations as vending zones, as far as possible. It calls for planning and
developing such areas so as to avoid uneasiness to the public. If at all the
present vending locations cannot be declared as vending zones, the TVC should
take care to minimise the displacement area. The applicants must be allotted
vending zones of their choice. Moreover, vending zones should not be considered
as a tool to restrict the movement of the vendors. Rather, it should be
followed as a mechanism to inculcate order in the vending locations. The
vendors must be given the option to change their vending zone once he/she does
not find the business profitable at the present vending zone.

REGIONAL VENDING COMMITTEE:

The TVC is a centralised and formal setup. It
should not be burdened with minor grievances of the vendors. A Regional Vending
Committee can be set up in lines of a Self Help Group (SHG) to deal with such
issues. The regional committee would comprise of the street food vendors of a
particular area. If there is not sufficient number of vendors in a particular
area, two or more nearby areas can be amalgamated to form a regional committee.
It can promote co-operation among the vendors and ensure a system of mutual
check over the compliance of traders. The TVC need not interact directly with
the vendors every time. The Regional Vending Committees may act as a channel
between individual vendors and the TVC. The TVC can disperse the funds and the
benefits of social security schemes through these committees. A collective responsibility may be placed on
the Regional Vending Committees to keep a tab on the activities of each of its
members. This will gradually lead to self compliance of morals and guidelines
on the part of the street food vendors.

CONSTITUTE TVC AS AN AUTONOMOUS BODY:

The concept of constituting ‘TVC as an
autonomous unit’ is important. Complete autonomy should be granted to TVC in
administrative matters while partial autonomy may be granted in financial
matters. Let us look into these aspects in detail.

Administrative and regulatory autonomy simply
means that the TVC would be solely responsible for identifying vending zones,
registering the vendors, issuing guidelines for the vendors, organizing
regional vending committees, initiating welfare and social security measures
for the vendors and conducting technical and skill up gradation trainings.

Financial autonomy implies the power to levy
fees for registration, renewal of registration and for the services provided at
hawking zones, providing financial assistance and formulating social security
measures.

The autonomy of the TVC doesn’t mean that it
will have a dominant power over the vendors. It only implies decentralised
decision making power for aiding or supporting the street vendors.

Extensive preparations need to be made before
conferring such autonomy over the TVC. The TVC can be divided into two parts,
viz., Monitoring Committee (MC) and Executive Wing (EW). MC is representative
in character and would be responsible for monitoring the execution of the
project and for taking policy decisions. The EW would comprise of the
executives who would be implementing the scheme in actual sense and would be
responsible and subordinate to the MC.

The composition of the MC must be so as to
facilitate the aforesaid financial and regulatory functions. The TVC should be
headed by the Corporation Secretary as he/she is the authority who grants
licenses for any commercial activity within the corporation limit. Health
officer must be appointed as an Ex-Officio Member for considering the health
aspects, hygiene of vending environment and quality of food materials sold. One
member (not below the rank of Asst. Commissioner) each from local and traffic
departments of police should be included as Ex-Officio Members in order to seek
advice over traffic management and law and order issues. Town Planning Officer
from Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) should be included as
Ex-Officio Member and he/she can help in identification and preparation of
vending zones in the city. The Revenue Officer of the CMC can be an Ex-Officio
Member and can advise the committee on fee and levy related matters. Atleast 10
members of the TVC should comprise of representatives of street vendors. They
can be nominated from regional vending committee among the vendors who are
registered as street vendor by the TVC or registered associations of street
vendors. The Health Standing Committee chairman and Town Planning Committee
Chairman can also be nominated by the council. An Official (not below the rank
of Asst.Manager) should be nominated by the bank which provides loan to the
vendors, subject to the approval of the majority of rest of the members of the
TVC, in order to ensure better compliance of EMI repayment and to seek advice
over monetary matters. The representative of the bank would not have a right
vote. Members of NGOs and resident welfare associations can be included as part
time members. They will not have right to vote in the committee. Thus, the TVC
has both popular and official representation.

CONCLUSION

At present, the street food vendors suffer a great
deal due to the lack of resources and expertise and the illegal nature of their
profession. The Safe Food City project, initiated by the CMC is definitely a
crucial scheme to uplift the impoverished street food vendors of the city. This
report lays down the means to sustain and develop the profession of street food
vending through the extension of the very same project. The illicit nature of
street food vendors can be abandoned by registering them under a TVC. A
transparent, vendor friendly and time bound procedure must be adopted to
register the vendors and identifying vending zones. Apart from registration,
TVC can undertake a slew of other measures to support the development of the
entrepreneurship of the street food vendors including basic amenities at venue
of trade and social security measures like insurance. The report also addresses
the issue of vending zones. Vending zones may turn out as a bone of contention
between the vendors and the officials and will jeopardise the scheme. Hence,
vending zones should be determined after reaching a consensus with the
applicants.

Finally, the objective of the TVC should not be to
impose restraints over the vendors in the form of rules and regulations. The
registration should give them legal sanction and the powers and actions of the
TVC should build up a conducive environment for any person to start and expand
street food vending business.

[1] GUIDELINES FOR THE SCHEME OF
"UPGRADATION OF THE QUALITY OF STREET FOOD"; Government
of India, Ministry of Food Processing Industries